ChronoNomad's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Castle Crashing the Beard HD]

Being allowed to incur the wrath of the mighty Bearded Fulp once again has, quite frankly, made my week! Any fan of the OG beard-smashing event would be remiss in their duty if they failed to take up arms once again to thwart Tom's maniacal, disembodied head.

All in all, it's a pretty fantastic upgrade, while maintaining all of the charm and cheap juggle-y death goodness of its predecessor. Not that I'm complaining, mind you! I am well aware of the fact that learning the patterns and how to survive each type of attack is a classic video gaming staple. To anyone complaining about being skewered like a shish kebab by the wee bony lads: quit yer churlish whinin'! Or, in modern day parlance: GiT GuD. :P

That said, it's incredibly kind of you to nerf the skellies since they've obviously been causing a lot of grief. Wimps, indeed. But still...good on you. I played the game furiously when it was first released, and somehow even managed to be one of the first to beat Tom without dying. It's the small victories that validate one's existence, I must admit.

One day soon I plan to return and earn the remaining medals, though admittedly making it through the ordeal completely unscathed seems like a particularly high hurdle. Now, if only there were some kind of invincibility star...or possibly an amphibian? :3

Five very well-earned stars from me! The game is fun, looks and sounds amazing, playing with the gamepad (my personal preference when given the option) feels nice and responsive, and it really hits nostalgia factor 10 with that Doki Doki Pani--er, I mean Super Mario Bros. 2-style end credits roll. Checks a lot of boxes for me. Well played.

BoMToons responds:

Competing for best use of vocabulary in a review category... ;-) <3

[Makros Superpos]

This is a pretty fun and rather unique game, especially considering how incredibly arbitrary the whole process actually is. I'm still not entirely sure if there's some sort of condition that needs to be met in order to find the Schrödinger-like cat in the box alive or dead, or if it's just as random as the cat effects you get by hitting the spacebar. Nevertheless, it is indeed quite challenging, sometimes frustrating, and generally kind of cute...in a dark and strangely morbid way.

The backgrounds, animations, and other moving parts look very nice and feel natural. The music, while highly limited and decidedly repetitive, sounds fine and serves an interesting purpose by reversing while the spacebar is held down. Sound effects, while also fairly minimal, are nonetheless effective and appropriate for the tone of the game. Besides the technical and aesthetic elements, it's always great to earn a couple hundred medal points! I know it's an extra draw for me, at least.

I did come across one weird medal glitch while playing, so I figured I would take a moment to report it here. During my initial playthrough, I earned all the stars for every level as I completed them, and when I finally got through the 30th level it was the TASK 2 medal that popped all by itself. After that I finished TASK 3, then had to play the game over from the beginning to finally get TASK 1 to activate. Obviously, if someone earns more than one of the medals on a single run through all 30 levels, they should get all the medals they've earned.

Overall, I would have to say that this is a solid Puzzle game, despite its unique reliance on luck. Some skill is indeed required, and simply tapping the button without any kind of analytical thought process going on won't get the job done.

Besides, the idea of cats doing all kinds of crazy stuff while you're not observing them is totally symbolic and 100% accurate. Great job and congratulations on landing on the Front Page!

[Apollina´s Spell - Greek antique parody]

Cute and quirky, but loves to freeze up on me and has done so across several attempts. I may never be able to finish the game itself if that keeps happening. The premise is very bizarre of course, just like the myths themselves, and your one of a kind art style is always uniquely enjoyable. I've generally become accustomed to your particular style of music, but some of the tracks here actually gave me a headache. :P

The gameplay leaves something to be desired, and not knowing which enemies can be killed using the sword or need to be jumped on is more than a bit bothersome. Controlling Pegasus is ridiculously awkward, though I suppose that was intended to ramp up the difficulty of the "race" against the Sphinx. In a more straightforward race based on speed rather than gathering golden olives, Pegasus would win without even trying.

Death comes quickly and easily, but then you're right back into things with another chance, so dying in and of itself means very little in most stages. There are some silly little Easter eggs sprinkled here and there, and it's always nice to earn medals.

Not a bad game, though I would probably offer up at least another half star if I could play without those frustratingly random freeze-ups. FYI, the browser I use is Chrome and there was nothing else going on in the background at the time. Hope that helps!

[Crystals Constellations]

A well made game that relies too much on the luck stat. I can't really say that it's a very original idea, which I'm sure you already know since you've used this same formula before, but at least it's done well enough to be interesting. And there are medals to earn, which is a nice bonus. The game looks quite nice, the background music is really relaxing, and it has one hell of a difficulty curve. Maybe instead of "Easy, Medium, and Hard" the levels should be named "Entirely Possible, Not So Much, and All But Impossible."

Skill is absolutely a part of the game, but in the end simply moving on to the next level requires inordinate amounts of luck, as well. Moving on to the 3rd level in the Medium bracket should not take numerous repeated attempts...that's just frustrating and really hampers the game's overall level of playability.

I also kind of thought there would be more to the constellation theme of the game, like actually trying to make certain ones out of crystal chains, but ultimately it's just a naming convention gimmick, so that was a little disappointing. Ah, well. The game is good, but could certainly be improved upon. Three and a half stars from me.

[Evil Asylum]

Another fairly well-made Point 'n Click, but it does seem like you stick to a very limited set of themes, especially considering all the asylum-based games. Not that I'm complaining about that, mind...asylums are right creepy venues when it comes to exploration and puzzle-solving.

Most things seem to work as they should, and the puzzles ranged from the relatively simple to the slightly devious. I felt a bit silly when the method for opening the book finally dawned on me, but it was a very good example of a two-fold clue.

What isn't working is the 'Orb collector' medal. Even though several users have earned it, as recently as 20 minutes ago, I've collected 50 orbs at once across two games and have yet to receive my medal. I had over 100 unspent orbs in my first playthrough, so it definitely should have popped. Might want to look into that and see what's causing the glitch. Completion is always part of the draw.

Not much else to say, it's pretty standard selfdefiant fare. And that, in and of itself, is a good thing. Folks tend to know what they're getting when they stop by, and while there may not be a lot of groundbreaking innovation to be had, it's a pretty tried-and-true formula.

[Tower of Destiny]

What you've made here is a really solid game with a lot of replay value. The premise is simple and well-implemented, alternating between earning coins and gems during gameplay, then expending them at the upgrade store in order to earn more and climb higher on subsequent trips. Controls couldn't be easier since all that's required is a click of the mouse or tap of the spacebar to jump. It would even make for an excellent one-touch App game! Especially since it's so fast-paced and addictive. Definitely something to consider.

The art style is cute and possesses a bit of a retro vibe. Animations look great and have that same old school charm. I also find the music engaging, one of the few experiences I've enjoyed recently where I wasn't tempted to hit the mute button, and the sound effects are both pleasant and appropriate.

Besides wandering enemies, the traps are many and varied, from spikes and gears to pits of lava, water, and fire. Compounding certain enemies with traps make for particularly devious obstacles, such as projectile weapons and bats. Timing plays a positively enormous role in the game, and it's definitely much more skill-oriented in an age where so many games being cranked out rely too heavily on luck, with only a minimal level of skill being necessary. In my opinion, what you have here is a winning formula.

While I wish that I could do nothing but rave about the quality of Tower of Destiny, there is one surprising and glaring issue that mars an otherwise almost perfect game: LAG. Consistent lag wouldn't even be all that debilitating, but this lag comes in fits and starts, wave after wave for - what appears to be - no good reason. Perhaps the deceptively simple appearance of the game belies its true nature as a CPU siphon. Either way, that lag can be a real killer. And I mean that quite literally. It would be an excellent idea to add a way to lower the graphical quality if it would mean less (or preferably no) lag. I'm not sure what causes it, but it damages the overall gameplay and only seems to get worse the more levels have been completed. Does the game calculate lots of levels in advance, perhaps? Or do the previous levels create the problem? Regardless of the cause, I hope that the lag can ultimately be nullified to make this an even more flawless experience.

Just to sum it all up, the game is a lot of fun! It looks great, plays beautifully, is easy to pick up but takes a while to master. The only real problem exists in the form of on-again, off-again lag that cuts gameplay speed down to about 50% at its worst. Even with the lag this game is bound to be well-loved by many, but if that gets fixed? Well, the sky's the limit!

Thank you for such an incredibly enjoyable gaming experience. Very well done.

[Arisen [beta]]

Not a bad game, though very simplistic in its design. The graphics really leave something to be desired, and the sound effects aren't anything special, but the background music is solid. Did you compose it yourself?

The mixture of keyboard and mouse controls doesn't feel particularly intuitive, though it does start feeling a bit more natural over time. It's an interesting idea, but shooting wind just to flip switches seems a bit of a waste. Might as well just make us click on those, too. Food for thought.

The main reason I decided to write this review is because something very strange just happened in my game. I was flying up towards the next 10 floors, nothing blocking my way and not a single bat in sight, when--SPLAT! Suddenly and inexplicably dead. I'm not really sure what happened, but I certainly know a game-breaking flaw when I see one, so you should definitely look into it. Is it possible for your assets to be invisible? That's about the only thing that makes sense unless there's some random loss condition thrown in that was never explained in the tutorial...

Beyond that, there's just one more thing I really wanted to mention regarding the gameplay. You know those main menu and mute buttons that are in the upper right-hand corner? Those are right where some of the bats appear, so clicking on them by mistake is not only a possibility, it's almost a certainty. Very frustrating, that. Moving those buttons to one of the bottom corners or some other out-of-the-way location should work like a charm. Toggling the sound isn't so bad, but accidentally clicking the level select button is not something that the player should have to be worry about.

All in all, the game is a fairly middle-of-the-road experience. Without those nasty issues I could see my way clear to giving it a solid 3 stars, but the whole thing could use a fair amount of polish. A little extra time and effort can go a long way. Having medals is a nice addition, and that's typically a nice way to draw more players. They've been working just fine for me and I'm looking forward to earning a few more.

Not bad for a first game, but I believe you can do even better! :)

AndrewSP responds:

I fixed the bug
check it out !

Thanks for the review .

[The Hardest Pokémon Quiz Ever]

I have a difficult time giving a quiz - even an extremely arbitrary yet challenging one, such as this - a very high score...unless it completely blows me away in the innovation department or something. One problem here is that the subject itself is so incredibly specific, making the premise altogether inaccessible to those who know nothing whatsoever about Pokémon. Worst of all, it can severely limit your target audience, which ultimately leads to a lot of missed opportunities.

No one gets to see which answers they get right or wrong, so there's no opportunity to actually learn anything. This is kind of a shame, though I can understand the methodology there...even if seeing the correct answers were an option. A couple of effective ways to solve this problem without making the quiz too easy (i.e. playing multiple times to memorize all the answers) would be to have the questions appear in random order, as well as having more questions in total so that one could play several times without seeing all the questions. It would also cut down on repeat questions across subsequent attempts.

All that aside, having medals makes things slightly more intriguing, maybe even for someone who hasn't actually played a single Pokémon game. But the problem with the medals is that, when one of the medals for answering a certain number of questions correctly is earned, the previous amount(s) are not gotten at the same time. For instance, earning the Perfect medal should also net someone the 25+, 20+, 15+, and 10+ medals...all at once. Those should at least be a package deal, rather than having to play the game over and over and over again in order to earn each one.

I personally played through twice, and that was simply so I could earn another medal for having a different score, as well as the other secret medal. Then I decided that writing this review was more important than playing for a third time. Feel free to draw your own conclusions. What you have here is not a bad game. I give bad games one or fewer stars, but like so many other offerings here on Newgrounds, it could most assuredly be improved upon in a variety of ways.

9X74 responds:

Thanks for the in-depth revew ChronoNomad! You made me look at my own game through a whole new lens. If I ever decide to make another game like this I'll be sure to use your constructive critisism and make it alot more interesting and appealing toward a greater audience.

[Climber Guy]

Okay, so this is a really simple premise, though it could ultimately use a lot of improvement. There are only ten levels, which would generally be a bit short for most games, but here it works. The main reason for this is that the game itself is little more than a button-mashing extravaganza. The idea itself isn't bad, though I find that mashing Z and X over and over (and over and over) feels both tedious and uninspired. The climbing mechanic could certainly be better, but again that's where having only ten levels works in the game's favour.

The graphics and animation look really hastily done and super simplistic, but that's actually kind of charming in its own special way. Some really obvious game design essentials have been left out, though. For one thing, there is no explanation about what the individual stats do. You can't mouse over the icons for descriptions or anything, so that's definitely a minus--even if it all seems self-explanatory to the designer. The average person won't have that same inside track to the design mindset, so it's always wise to keep that in mind. Through simple trial and error, I learned that the Strength and Health stats are ultimately the most important to actually succeeding in each level's objective. Speed really isn't all that important since all it helps you do is move left and right quicker. The only real reason to max out all the stats is to earn the medals, and - to that end - it might even be better to lower the upgrade costs on those a bit so that they remain relevant to the actual gameplay.

The only music is a really short loop, and while I didn't find it to be terribly annoying straight away, by the time I was a few levels in it was really beginning to grate. Sound effects are sparse, but what little there is works well enough. It might have been nice to add a few more for mousing over menu selections.

All in all, I felt like the game was simply mediocre. The medals are a nice incentive, though maxing out all the stats is neither necessary for completion of the game, nor is it particularly fun. I would personally suggest giving this a bit of extra polish if you hope to earn higher ratings.

blit-blat responds:

Yeah, thinking about it leaving out instructions for the upgrades was a bit silly; we've spent so much time playing this game it seemed obvious to us! :P I've updated the game description explaining the upgrades. Thanks for the review :)